Fingers point north amid growing concerns in Seoul of a cyber attack

Lim Chang-Won

The South Korean military raised its cyber attack warning level after computer networks crashed at main TV broadcasters and banks, with initial suspicions focused on North Korea.

The Korea Internet Security Agency, a state watchdog, said computer networks at three TV broadcasters - KBS, MBC and YTN - as well as the Shinhan and Nonghyup banks had been ''partially or entirely crippled''. LG Uplus, an internet service provider, also reported a network crash.

An investigator from the specialist cyber wing of the national police agency said the shutdown appeared to have been triggered by a ''virus or malicious code'', suggesting a concerted hacking operation.

There was no immediate confirmation of who or what was behind the multiple shutdown, which occurred about 2pm but the main finger of suspicion is likely to point at Pyongyang. The crash came days after North Korea accused South Korea and the United States of being behind a ''persistent and intensive'' hacking assault that took a number of its official websites offline for nearly two days.

The North was believed to be behind two big cyber attacks in 2009 and 2011 that targeted South Korean government agencies and financial institutions, causing their networks to crash.

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The South Korean Defence Ministry said it had raised its five-level ''Infocon'' cyber threat alert status from four to three.

With military tensions on the Korean peninsula at their highest level for years following the North's nuclear test last month, the Infocon level was only recently raised from five to four - with one being the top level.

''We do not rule out the possibility of North Korea being involved, but it's premature to say so. It will take time to figure out,'' Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.

Shinhan Bank said it had been forced to turn away branch customers, while its internet banking and ATM operations were also badly affected. Its network was partially restored after two hours, the bank said.

A KBS labour union spokesman said all the broadcaster's computers had crashed simultaneously. ''We're on air, but journalists are having difficulties filing stories as they cannot access the network,'' he said.

South Korean intelligence officials said North Korea was believed to have a cyber warfare unit staffed by about 3000 people hand-picked for their computing prowess.

Kim Jong-un's regime recently threatened to attack the US with nuclear weapons and on Tuesday warned of ''strong military counter-action'' if the US again flies B-52 bombers over the Korean peninsula. On Wednesday the North condemned the training flights by the nuclear-capable bombers as an ''unpardonable provocation''.

The Pentagon says at least one B-52 has flown over South Korea in recent weeks as part of joint South Korea-US military exercises that Pyongyang has denounced as rehearsals for invasion.